Mastery of the Mind & Body

“Your mind is the master of your actions, and your actions are the building blocks of your life.” – Bohdi Sanders

Time and time again I have witnessed actions being taken by either myself or others that led to undesirable outcomes. Whether this is a one time occurrence or a long-term habit, the principle of awareness is the secret to self-mastery. By awareness, I do not just mean the world around you, but the world within your own mind. A quote that words this beautifully is from a book called The Way of the Warrior by Erwin McManus. The quote is, “The world within you will create the world around you.” Although this may seem like common sense, don’t be fooled. This is probably the hardest thing to do in life, regardless of your past, present, or future situation / circumstance. A tool I have found to help guide me on my journey of self-mastery is one of thoughtful and honest reflection. If you are not able and/or willing to be truly honest with yourself, how can you ever hope to overcome life’s obstacles? You can’t. Because each person is unique, I can not give you a fool proof way or method to help combat this lack of awareness. But what I can do is give you an example of how I personally try to address this. At least once a day, usually at night just before I go to bed, I ask myself to reflect on 3 things: What did I do well today? What is something that I didn’t do so well on? How can I improve things I did not do well on today? Not only do I do this to practice self-reflection, but I also use this as a tool to reflect on what other people have told me about my actions throughout the day. This is because you can only observe things through your own tainted lens and you need the perspective of others to help give you the full picture.